manila game How good were HD Spikers? Exodus of key cogs hasn’t slow them down

Cignal HD Spikers during a game against the Farm Fresh Foxies in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.–PVL PHOTO

The front-row cheering section on the other side of the Cignal HD Spikers looked mighty familiar.

There was Rachel Anne Daquis, a long-time face of the franchise. Alohi Robins-Hardy was also at ringside, having played for Cignal in another league. Jheck Dionela, once the longest-tenured HD Spiker was also cheering for another squad.

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The three of them witnessed something familiar: A clinical 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 victory by Cignal over their new team, Farm Fresh, in the PVL All-Filipino Conference on Saturday.

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“Let’s face … reality,” Daquis said, adding that because of her decision to join the Foxies, “I won’t be able to avoid playing against Cignal.”

For now, the Far Eastern U product did avoid facing her former squad, opting to sit this game out until she gets back to full form. Dionela, too, sat out because of the same reason. Robins-Hardy didn’t suit up because technically, she isn’t a Foxy since she has to go through the rookie draft before she can play for any club in the PVL.

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For now, it didn’t seem like the HD Spikers missed their former standouts. After finishing third in the previous All-Filipino and then placing second in the recent Reinforced Conference, Cignal looks like it is simply picking up from it left off.

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“We’re happy with the straight-set win, but there’s still a lot to improve on and adjust. We have plenty to work on,” Gel Cayuna, the playmaker who kept the Cignal offense humming with 16 excellent sets, said. “We’re bringing in a new mindset for this campaign, focusing on how to improve our play and refine our system compared to the last conference,” she added.What the team is bringing in as well is a sustained excellence that shows just how talented and deep it is. Cignal lost AJ Jingco, who also signed with Farm Fresh, and the likes of Chai Troncoso, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Chinchin Basas and Gen Casugod.And their departure didn’t seem to worry coach Chaq Delos Santos one bit. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

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“I’m, happy for them even if they are … playing for other teams already,” he said after the match. “The good thing is before everything (the exodus of players) happened, we were able to make adjustments because we already knew what was going to happen.”

”So, for us, we [focused] on how to prepare as a team, not on who is already playing for other teams,” Delos Santos added. “And I’m happy with the team’s performance. We know that the performance wasn’t everything that the players wanted to do. We have a lot more things that we can execute in a proper way.”

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So good were the HD Spikers that they only committed 11 errors in the 87-minute match.

“We had great teamwork today and you can see that everyone performed and con tributed [to the win],” said skipper Ces Molina, who led the HD Spikers with 14 points.

”I’m proud of my teammates and our coaching staff,” she added.

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Jovelyn Fernandezmanila game, thrust into the main oppositwe spiker’s role, finished with 11 points while Rose Doria and Ria Meneses had seven points each. Cignal’s loans to the national program, Vanie Gandler and libero Dawn Catindig, also contributed solid numbers with Gandler compiling six points, seven digs and six excellent receptions and Catindig picking up 20 digs and five receptions.

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